History Main / PaintedTunnelRealTrain

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', Merv Pumpkinhead is charged with making alterations to Dream's palace. He does so by pasting up ''posters of corridors on a blank wall''. Dream then walks out of the posters, which are now apparently as real as anything else in The Dreaming. FridgeBrilliance when you realise that ''any'' corridor in a comic is just a picture.

[[caption-width-right:350:That is highly unrealistic! Everyone knows the Road Runner wouldn’t get hit!]]

'''Batman''': ... The situation did warn me about that.

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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/GoingGoingGosh https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fake_tunnel.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:It works for trucks too.]]

** Avery's "Jerky Turkey" does this as the screwball turkey runs right into the scenery painted onto a brick wall. The 4-F pilgrim trying to catch the turkey smashes right into the wall.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fake_tunnel.jpg]]]]

** [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunesCartoons One recent short]] provided a new twist on the gag-- this time, Wile E. actually enters the tunnel, and is even surprised by this. However, when he tries to get back out, he finds that he can't. Then the Road Runner uses a hose to wash the painting and Wile E. away.

* ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'': Dick Dastardly used a landscape painted on a piece of upright solid steel to try to wreck the other racers. Not only did they drive into it unharmed, but a ''bus'' drove out of it and flattened him.
** ''Wacky Races'' also used a few of the original ''Road Runner'' gags almost unaltered, with Dastardly of course standing in for Wile E. Coyote. Mike Maltese was the primary writer of the Road Runner shorts and wrote a few ''Wacky Races'' episodes as well.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': Spoofed in “Chipwrecked” as the last entry in a montage of [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Chip Whistler’s]] schemes to destroy the Green family. Chip admits he might have hallucinated that particular one due to sleep deprivation.

* Spike rolled with it in "Mutts About Racing". During a car race, when Droopy drove into a sign, he simply shoved said sign off a cliff. Droopy later came rolling out of a painting and kept going.

* A ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' installment had the Road Runner entering a painted tunnel, followed by the Coyote smashing right into it. The Road Runner zips up with a sign reading "Fake tunnel." The Coyote holds up a sign reading [[CaptainObvious "No shit."]]

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', a (relatively) serious live-action show, spends an episode inside the subconscious of the main character John Crichton, which is apparently highly influenced by old WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes cartoons. Crichton and an animated version of the angry [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy alien warrior D'Argo]] engage in a series of Coyote-and-Road Runner�style chases, a few of which center on D'Argo painting wormholes onto the wall, which act as this type of tunnel.

** [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunesCartoons One recent short]] even inverted the trope- this time Wile E. actually gets into the tunnel, and is even surprised by it. However, when he tries to get back out, he finds that he cannot. Then the Road Runner uses a hose to wash the painting and Wile E. away.

* In one ''WesternAnimation/PinkPanther'' short, Pink sees a picture of a sailboat hanging crooked, but when he straightens it, the water on the picture pours out of the frame.

* In one WesternAnimation/{{Droopy}} cartoon, Spike paints a tennis court blue and installs a diving platform so that when Droopy tries to dive in, he would drop to his death instead. Droopy dives, but instead of splattering on solid concrete he splashes into what is now real water. Spike then tries it himself... and [[LiterallyShatteredLives shatters into a million pieces]].

* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch has one of Wile E. Coyote's tunnel paintings on display in a museum. When Road Runner runs through the tunnel, Wile E. tries chasing after him, but slams into the painting. This being ''Robot Chicken'', [[BlackComedy Wile E. dies from his injuries]].

** [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunesCartoons One recent short]] even inverted the trope- this time Wile E. actually gets into the tunnel, and is even surprised by it. However, when he tries to get back out, he finds that he cannot. Then the Road Runner uses a hose to wash the painting and Wile. E away.

** One recent short even inverted the trope- this time Wile E. actually gets into the tunnel, and is even surprised by it. However, when he tries to get back out, he finds that he cannot. Then the Road Runner uses a hose to wash the painting and Wile. E away.

* In ''Anime/JackToMameNoKi'' during the final fight against Tulip the giant, Jack's dog Crosby paints a picture of a train tunnel on a wall and runs through it, naturally Tulip crashes into it and temporarily knocks himself out.

* Spoofed in a ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryKids'' short with a car race, where the villain [=McWolf=] takes advantage of this, by having WesternAnimation/{{Droopy}} drive into a sign and shoving said sign off a cliff (the wolf earlier crashed into a painted tunnel).